Water Tribe Warrioress
by TheNuttyAuthor
Summary: Hakoda has two daughters, and Sokka is a warrior of her tribe. In order to be taken seriously by her fellow warriors, she pretends to be a boy in public and on her travels. Unfortunately, she ends up developing feelings for a Fire Prince long thought of as a jerk...and doesn't know how to handle them when she's always been a tomboy. AU. Pairings: Maiaang, Katoph, and Zokka.


Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was not involved in the production of the show in any way, and am not making any profit off of this story. It is done for fan purposes only.

Author's note: This story involves a Sokka who was always female and has a similar personality to canon; she also has a different dynamic with Katara. As a result, some pairings and situations will be different from canon.

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Visiting a tea house called the "Jasmine Dragon" while she was dressed like a _girl _had to be the stupidest idea her sister ever had. Sokka didn't think she even _liked_ tea. Well, she didn't like tea. She wasn't sure how _Katara _felt about the beverage. Which was sad, really, since they were sisters and all. Katara had her by the arm, smiling at her. "Come on, Sokka. You look fine."

Sokka yanked on her long wolf-tail, shooting a glare at her sister. She'd been talked into unbinding her breasts and donning Earth Kingdom greens. Oh, yeah. And she was wearing a light green dress that came to her ankles—at least she got to keep her boots—with irritating gold stripes around the sleeves. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure I resemble a long-haired Earth Kingdom boy wearing a _dress_. Why are you even taking me here? I don't think I like tea."

"I thought we could do something as sisters for a change." A soft smile came over her sister's face as she gazed at Sokka. "And you look great in this dress."

She shrugged. Ignored the dress comment. It was just Katara irritating her. They were sort of dressed the same, even if Katara pulled off the whole...Earth Kingdom girl with hair loopies thing better. Sokka despised the hair loopies Katara forced upon her, but it was sort of like a disguise. Albeit an uncomfortable one. "We are sisters. I'm a girl and you're a girl. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Well, you're not really _good_ at being a sister. You and your weapons and training."

"Oh, sure. Get angry at _me_ because our father didn't have a son. You know he had to train one of us to be a warrior. And you're a bender, so it's not like he had much choice in that."

"You're such a _boy_, Sokka. Just let me fix your hair. It's a mess."

"It's a warrior's wolf-tail. Not something that gets all hair loopied up like yours. Hello, Water Tribe warrior here. Not Katara's dress-up doll." Sokka stuck her tongue out at Katara, who scowled at her. "I'm only in this for the food," she muttered. "You knew I was hungry and took advantage of it."

Katara sighed. "We don't even know if the Jasmine Dragon serves food. It's the grand opening today." The building loomed in front of them, imposing and foreboding. Well, that was how Sokka saw it. If the tea house didn't serve food, then she'd let Katara dress her up for nothing. Her stomach growled. Katara elbowed her in the side. "Sokka! That's so embarrassing!"

"I'm hungry," Sokka whined. "You cooked this morning, and I wasn't sure if those were rice balls with meat filling or rice cakes." She honestly wanted to try Earth Kingdom fare, but Katara seemed to actually enjoy cooking. Ugh. Why couldn't they ever go out to a buffet in Ba Sing Se? Or even just a restaurant? That would be more enjoyable than Chef Katara, Destroyer of Meals.

"Hey! I'm not that horrible of a cook! Toph's worse!"

"Uh, _yeah_, you are. You burn water. And Toph's _blind_, so she's got an excuse. You don't. So I'm hungry for non-Katara cooking. You need cooking lessons."

"If you hate my cooking so much, why don't _you_ cook?"

Sokka sighed and opened the door. She didn't want to get into another argument about her little sister's cooking. This was usually the point where she'd ask for a restaurant choice between Katara's Kitchen and Anywhere Else.

Gran-Gran taught Katara, and while Gran-Gran _could_ cook, Katara burned water. Or, at least, Katara burned water whenever she had to cook for their little group. "After you," she said. Katara walked in, leaving Sokka to scurry after her. Argh. She'd thought her sister would bail. Wasn't like she could just chicken out when Katara had no problem. It was her job to be the brave one.

A gray-haired older man wearing green Earth Kingdom clothing and an apron smiled at them. Potentially suspicious behavior. His hair was shoulder-length, a liability in a fight, and he appeared fairly muscular. Hm. A former Earth Kingdom soldier, most likely. She wasn't sure if he could bend, but she sized him up all the same. "My sister and I would like to eat here," said Katara. Sokka sighed. At least Katara was getting her food.

"Is there even food here? Cause if there's not, I'm outta here." Sokka crossed her arms and scowled at Retired Soldier.

"Lee! Show these young ladies to their seats!" the former soldier barked. Sokka narrowed her eyes. Nobody had ever called her a young lady before. Well, except for Gran-Gran, but that didn't count. She reached into her bag, ready to throw her boomerang if needed. This could be a trap by the Fire Nation or the We Hate The Avatar Club. Katara elbowed her, shaking her head in a means of telling Sokka to ignore the weapon. Sokka nodded her agreement. Of the two of them, she'd easily say Katara had more people skills.

"Yes, Uncle." A boy in a dark green tunic with lighter green vertical stripes roughly around the middle walked up to them. He was taller than both Water Tribe girls; Sokka did not like having to look up at him. It was irritating that she didn't have a growth spurt yet, and was only a little bit taller than Katara. Now this boy made her feel like she was the same size as Momo.

The first thing Sokka noticed was his scar. It was the same sort of repulsive scar that Prince Zuko had, and on the same side of his face. Coincidence? She narrowed her eyes again, sizing Lee up. Different hairstyle, similar build and height, same type of scar. Was it him? If she was eating here, and _he_ was here, she wanted a rematch.

Katara giggled. "Hey, Sokka. You think he's cute?" she whispered. Sokka stared at her in confusion. How could she think that someone who could be their _enemy_ was cute? She shook her head, only then noticing that Lee was blushing as he looked at her. Ugh. Zuko's lookalike was blushing. Because of her. She'd never caused that reaction in a boy before.

"_No_. He could be a certain jerk who I thought we ditched back home."

"You can't seriously mean..."

"Yes. I do. Seriously. It could be him. Knowing our collective luck, it is. I know _you_ have good luck, but my bad luck cancels out your good luck, Aang's really bad luck adds to my bad luck, and Toph has medium luck, which adds to both yours and mine. Bad Luck wins." Sokka shrugged and glanced over at Lee. He was getting menus. That was a good sign. Sort of. The menu could only have tea flavors on it. Ugh. She was convinced she hated tea right now.

"Right this way." Sokka narrowed her eyes at him, getting between both Zuko Lookalike and her sister. She wouldn't allow Katara to get burned by a psycho firebender. Or a psycho potential earthbender. She was the only one who could hurt Katara.

Once they were seated, Sokka glared at Lee. "Listen, you. Tea Boy. I gotta know if your menu even has food on it. As in, things that aren't tea. As in, things that aren't burned or otherwise poorly made. Cause I'm starved."

Katara groaned, rolling her eyes and tugging on a hair loopie. "She just ate breakfast four hours ago! I swear, my sister's a bottomless pit."

"No. I've got a bottom to my pit. I'm just a deep hole with my appetite. Deep, deep hole about fifty feet deep and a foot wide."

"That's _almost_ a bottomless pit," snapped Katara. "And you never share any of the food you order unless you absolutely are forced to. Remember the time when you physically fought me over the last bowl of stew?"

Sokka stuck out her tongue. She realized that it wasn't very ladylike, which Katara wanted her to be, and just let out an irked groan. "I enjoy my food." Sokka glared at Lee, who stood there staring at both of them in confusion. Whee. She now had to deal with the Stares of Tea Boy. Sokka was pretty sure that Tea Boy wasn't Zuko; the prince would have just burst out some firebending and tried to kill her by now. Gone all Hundred Years War on her ass. Though the prince _was_ a jerk. Much more of a jerk than Tea Boy. Tea Boy just blushed around her too much and seemed to be staring at her breasts. She knew there was a reason that she bound them up.

She snatched the menus, handing one to Katara before glancing and ordering. "I'll have a bowl of noodles with sausage and garlic and onions, some rice balls stuffed with meat, red bean buns, and fried dumplings, one of every kind of meat you serve. No, Katara, I'm not gonna share with you after your latest Cooking Disaster."

"That's three dishes less than you ordered and didn't share last time we were at a restaurant. Good job, Sokka! What a good job!" Katara rolled her eyes; Sokka picked up on the sarcasm. "Anyway, I guess I'll have fried dumplings and bean buns. We're gonna have a big bill, aren't we?" asked Katara.

"Yes," said Lee, deadpan. Sokka glared at him. She reached into her bag and pulled out some Earth Kingdom money. She didn't know what the prices were, but she figured that all of her money combined with Katara's money would be enough to pay the bill. "That's more than enough. Here. You keep all of the gold pieces you gave me. Your meal only costs two silver and a copper. You've got that much."

Huffing, Sokka took her money and stared at the tabletop. Katara glared. "You realize that we're not exactly keeping a low profile? If they find us, it'll be because of your gluttony."

"It's not my fault you can't cook. It's your inability to follow simple instructions from Gran-Gran. That is why you can't cook." Sokka shrugged, staring at Katara's blue eyes. "Why did you really want to bring me here?"

"Uh, sisterly bonding?"

Lee bustled out of the area, carrying the bill and money with him. Some other people were filing into the Jasmine Dragon—seriously, what kind of name was that?—and apparently needed seats.

With a sigh, Katara looked at her sister. "I'm sorry, Sokka. You just make me so angry when you insult my cooking. I've tried to get you to do it, but it's like you think the job is too feminine. It's like all you care about is training and keeping up your skills as a warrior. The Water Tribe considers you a man, but would Bato even have done it if he'd known?"

"I like my weapons and training. They comfort me. Remind me of him." She closed her eyes. "Can't just pretend to be a regular girl because you're more comfortable with that. I might be a girl, but I'm a warrior first. That's how I want people to see me, Katara."

"I'm _not_ more comfortable with that. It would make you miserable! Just...we never do anything as sisters. Not really. The travel doesn't count. It's always you trying to get me to fight like you or you insulting my cooking."

"What can I say? Your fighting skills could use some work. Try making an ice boomerang and tossing it about with me. The old toss the boomerang and hit a tree game? We can name our tree Zuko!" Sokka grinned, practically beaming at Katara. She could smell the food.

The first thing she noticed about the food was that Lee carried a huge tray. Figured her order would merit a huge tray. She was good at that. Dishes were placed in front of her, Sokka licking her lips as she dug into the noodles. "Yum. Okay, Katara. You can have a few bites. I'm still not sharing the rest of it with you. Come on, bender girl. Eat up."

"Would you ladies like any tea?" Lee held the bill between thumb , apparently nervous that Sokka would order anything else. Aw. That was sweet. He was afraid of her appetite. She liked that. Though he still stared at her breasts. That was kinda creepy. Okay, more like _really _creepy. Katara raised an eyebrow at Sokka. Was she trying to guilt her into ordering tea?

"Nope. We're good. Let me eat and please stop staring at my chest. One, it's not a big chest, and two, my eyes are up here, Tea Boy." Lee blushed.

"I'm not staring at your chest. You're just, er, really pretty, and I, ah, might like to see you again." Sokka shoveled more food in her mouth, wanting to thank whatever chef wasn't Katara for the meal. She heard Katara slurping a few noodles down, too, but she was sharing. Sort of. She was still kinda mad at Katara for the terrible breakfast and for making her wear a dress. Mostly the dress. The food made up for the disaster that was breakfast.

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever," she said, ignoring Lee to eat the rest of her meal. Katara laughed.

"Sokka, he's not staring at your chest. He's staring at _you_." Whee. He was staring at her. Just what she needed. Someone deciding that she was worth staring at. Ugh.

When she finished eating, Sokka yanked Katara up by the arm, snapping, "We're leaving. I made arrangements to meet with my father, and I'm not gonna do it in this dress." Katara yanked slightly on her braid, Sokka shaking her head as she pulled her sister along.

She and Katara didn't speak on the way back to camp. Though once they got there, someone was missing. Toph. Katara's eyes widened. "Aang? Do you know where Toph is? Did she wander off somewhere without telling you?"

"I think she went off with some men. Something about how her parents wanted to see her and they'd been hired to bring her back." Aang spoke with such naivete that Sokka didn't want to ruin the illusion. Katara's face contorted into a snarl. Uh-oh. Sokka hurried away from her younger sister, quickly changing into her customary blue tunic and trousers. She sheathed her boomerang, machete placed in a sheath alongside it. In her bag went her dagger and a salvaged whales-tooth scimitar. She needed all the advantages she could get, what with being a girl and all.

"Toph got Tophnapped and I was off eating food with Sokka? This is all _your_ fault, Sokka! If you hadn't been such a glutton, we could have prevented the Tophnapping," Katara wailed. She sank down to the ground, hitting it in frustration. "It's not like we can just go after them."

Aang shook his head. "I've got to meet with someone," he said. Katara started to cry then, openly weeping as she hit the ground. Okay. Did Katara _like_ Toph? In the sort-of romantic way? Because that fraud of a fortune-teller had said Katara would marry a powerful bender. She hadn't said if the bender would be a man or a woman.

Sokka slapped her sister on the shoulder. "Katara. Stop it. We're going to the Bei Fong estate, and we're going to save Toph. Then, we kick the asses of her Tophnappers and run before her crazy parents see us. And Toph's the most powerful earthbender we know. She might escape, we find her, and then we take revenge."

Katara's eyes widened as she heard Sokka's words. "I-I haven't felt so worried in a while. Not even when Aang was in danger."

Aang shrugged. "She's blind. I'm worried about her too, Katara." He ran for Appa, gesturing for Sokka to follow him. "Hey, Sokka! You coming to meet your father?"

"Nope! Go ask another Sokka with warrior parents! I've heard that they're _everywhere _in the Southern Water Tribe!" She wasn't going anywhere until Toph was no longer Tophnapped. Aang seemed to like Katara, but Sokka hadn't once seen her sister return his advances. Yeah, she kissed him on the cheek pretty often, but she kissed Sokka on the cheek, too.

Now, Toph...that was different. She'd seen Katara smiling at Toph's bending moves, even if they did disagree over Training The Avatar. Even trying to help Toph out when the younger girl had a hard time eating because of her blindness. Sort of like she actually _wanted _Toph's company. If Toph were the powerful bender Katara was destined to marry according to some quack, then Sokka would help her.

"Appa, yip-yip!" She watched as the flying bison rose higher into the sky, turning towards her sister.

Her younger sister got to her feet and frowned. Uh-oh. That wasn't a good sign. Katara frowning meant that Sokka had done something wrong. "Sokka...you could meet with our father. Why do you even want to stay here?"

Sokka crossed her arms. "Toph's our friend. I'd suck as a warrior if I didn't help get her back. Then there's how you reacted to the Tophnapping. Seriously. You'd be miserable if she was stuck at the Bei Fong estate. I think you like arguing with her."

"Fine. Just try not to ruin everything with your gluttony this time."

"Yeah. So if you start shopping for food, I got license to drag you outta there. Cause we're not gonna ruin the rescue of Toph with gluttony. Or eating." She paused to survey her sister's attire. Still in those flimsy Earth Kingdom clothes. Not like Katara would serve much use in a fight with them on. "Get dressed and put on your real clothes. Now. You're taking my club with you. Can't take Toph's kidnappers out with bending. Sorry, Katara, but it really doesn't take much skill to use a club, and you are _not_ skilled with weapons."

Katara glared. "Hey! You've just deprived me of my waterbending!"

Sokka stuck out her tongue. "Too bad. Toph's probably trapped somewhere she can't bend her way out of. Do you want to help your girlfriend or not?"

"Toph is _not_ my girlfriend!"

"Fine. If you're going with me, then we've got to find the Bei Fong estate. I got a map." She flourished a map of Ba Sing Se, pointing to the Bei Fong estate as she spotted it. Good. They just had...three miles to walk. If Katara used waterbending to create an ice wave to propel them along, Sokka estimated they'd be there quicker than on foot. Then again, they could always hitch a ride...less conspicuous that way.

Katara got dressed, Sokka glaring at her until she slung the club over her back. "I am not looking forward to this. What if we get Toph in worse trouble?"

"Relax. This will be fine. I hope."


End file.
